EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITORS
KameronCole
Stefanie Knowlton
t
As elections
approach and
student interest
wanes, it may he
up to the not-so
serious candidates
to save student
government
Be prepared. You are about to be visually
assaulted by neon posters, T-shirts and
balloons. As you walk to class, strangers
will thrust buttons at you. The air around you
will swell with the sound of lofty promises.
Ah, yes. It’s election season at the University
of Oregon.
This year’s race for ASUO Executive promises
to be particularly interesting. Of the 11 candi
dates, only a handful would fit the traditional
definition of serious candidates. One person al
ways runs as a goof, but this year there are sev
eral.
Some people are worried that these candidates
are going to waste the student body’s time, or
worse yet, that they will make a joke of student
government.
That might be a legitimate concern, but in the
minds of many people student government has
been a joke for a long time.
The number of joke candidates are a symptom
of what is wrong with student government,
namely that it has become a joke in the minds of
many students.
We are told that the ASUO Executive is wor
thy of a certain degree of respect, yet this
year’s officers have done little, if anything, to
prove themselves worthy. They have failed to
reach out to the student body in a way that
would foster even a little confidence in cam
pus politics. How many students even know
the names of the current ASUO president and
vice '
presi
dent?
The state
of the ASUO
and the in
credibly invisi
ble exec should an
noy, if not outrage,
every fee-paying stu
dent on this campus.
It should upset stu
dents, but the sad truth is
that few people care
enough to be outraged.
Many of the students who
have been around for a few
years have grown jaded. And
all that new students know of
campus politics and the inner
workings of the ASUO is what
they’ve seen so far, which hasn’t
been much.
When students go to the polls lat
er this term, they will do so believ
ing that their vote is going to
count for something. The large
percentage that choose not to
vote have already given up on
that idea.
As the student government of one
of the largest public universities in
Oregon, the ASUO has the potential
> /
/ to exert a
tremendous
influence. For
the ASUO to re
alize this poten
tial, it needs to take
steps to draw these
uai,i\ illlu Uic
process.
The upcoming elec
tion might turn into a cir
cus, but if that gets the
campus to take an interest
in student government, then
maybe it’s not such a bad
thing.
For the most part, students
want the best leadership they
can get, and if they’ve given up on
finding it, then there is a problem.
Before this year’s candidates start
tossing out campaign promises,
they would do well to get out and
talk to those students who have al
ready written off the entire elections
BryanDtmn/ process as ridiculous or irrele
vant. Students who look at stu
dent government as a joke are the
ones who know how it has failed.
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses may be
sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Letters to me hditor
KWVA an alternative
Regarding the article written on KWVA (ODE,
March 10), I would like to clarify several issues.
First, KWVA functions much like any other pro
fessional office. Just as a writer could not walk into
the Emerald office and demand that his story be
printed, a DJ cannot walk into a radio and demand
a show. There is a waiting list of qualified DJs.
Specialty shows are granted only'to those DJs who
have proved their metal. A good DJ is someone
who is dedicated, reliable, consistent, willing to
wake up at 2 a.m. for his or her show, doesn’t miss
meetings and sticks around for more than just a
few terms. A Grateful Dead/Phish show qualifies
as a specialty show.
The second point that needs to be addressed is
our mission statement. KWVA provides a “clear
alternative” on the radio dial. In a world that con
tinues to be annexed by corporations, pacified by
beer, homogenized by style and dwarfed by con
sumerism, KWVA is untouched by the main
stream. We are classified as an educational radio
station, supported by the University. The spirit of
our mission statement was to give a voice to the
fringe of society, to the art of underrepresented
music and the DJs taste. Our mission statement
was approved by the FCC to obtain our license.
Should we ever wish to change the mission state
ment, we would have to reapply to the FCC when
our license expires in six years.
In closing, I would like to say that beyond the
structure of our mission statement, we not only
should not compete with other radio stations, we
don’t want to. We provide a variety of music from
underrepresented artists. The sound of the station
is the culmination of DJs, programming directors,
music directors, etc. If we don’t play the Grateful
Dead and Phish it’s because no one here wants to
do it. We don’t have to please the masses. The mass
es have plenty of radio stations to tune in to. If you
don’t like KWVA, you can apply for a staff or DJ po
sition, volunteer, or just change the dial.
Emily Walter
General Manager, KWVA
Y2K worries
I’m concerned about the Y2K article you ran in
the March 12 issue. Your article gives a false sense
of security to people about the status of their com
puters. Saying “For computers made before about
1995, there might be a possibility of a problem,” and
“students were not too concerned about having
problems with their PCs,” may give people a sense
of relief that might cause them to put off checking
out their systems.
Just because you bought a brand new computer
in 1999 doesn’t mean the computer is going to be
100 percent Y2K compliant. My company just pur
chased four brand name computers and every one
of them failed the compliance tests.
Just because a company claims their BIOS chips
are compliant doesn’t mean the BIOS in your brand
new machine is compliant. BIOS manufacturers
aren't just going to throw away the old BIOS chips
even though they aren’t making two digit BIOS
chips anymore. Instead, they are changing over to
the four-digit year codes but continue to sell off
their old stock. So you could have a brand spank
ing new computer with an outdated BIOS chin in
it. ^
There are several testing programs you can
download off of the Web, but your best bet is to
check with the computer manufacturer to see if
your system has any compliance issues. Most of the
big name computer companies have BIOS upgrades
available on their Web sites.
Windows 95 and some versions of Windows 98
are not compliant and require an upgrade patch that
can be found at Microsoft's Web site. Also, even af
ter you ve installed this patch on your computer,
you need to change the snort date in your regional
control panel to reflect a four-digit year date.
Of course, if the power companies aren’t compli
ant and you lose power on New Year’s Day 2000,
your brand spanking new computer makes a won
derful paperweight.
RJ Emmett
U0 Alumnus ’96
Systems Analyst
Chrome Data Corp.
Said
&Done
“Peace in Kosovo
without the popu
lation of Kosovo
would be a hollow
mockery. NATO's
campaign will con
tinue until the
refugees can re
turn to their homes
under international
protection."
-British Foreign
Secretary Robin
Cook on the Koso
vo crisis.
“I would hope out
of the whole expe
rience Wyoming
can emerge as a
more caring com
munity."
-Stephen M.
Johnson, a
Wyoming minis
ter on the conclu
sion of Russel
Henderson’s trial
for the murder ol
Matthew Shep
ard. The trial
ended Monday
when Henderson
pleaded guilty to
robbing and pis
tol-whipping
Shepard in Octo
ber.
“Come on, it's poli
tics. She presents
us with an oppor
tunity and we take
advantage of it and
then that’s not
fair? I mean, is it
fair that she comes
to New York and
raises lots of mon
ey?”
-New York mayor
Rudy Giuliani,
when asked if his
recent criticisms
of potential Sen
ate opponent
Hillary Clinton are
fair. The mayor’s
campaign com
mittee recently
unveiled its
“HillaryNo.com”
website.
“Earth to Gore.
Stop trying to rein
vent reality.”
-Republican
Leadership Coun
cil television com
mercial that dis
putes Vice
President Al
Gore's claim that
he was instru
mental in creating
the Internet.